Cathy's Art Diary

Another excellent study morning from Paula Nuttall looking at drawings from the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries to compliment the exhibition at the British Museum. Nuttall talked us thought the reasons why drawings were made and the techniques and materials used. She spent a lot of time talking about how drawings were used in artists’ workshops and looked in particular at the nine works by or from the workshop of Roger Van de Weyden. In each case she talked about the function of the drawing and highlighted any paintings which derived from them. We then looked at how drawings were used for work on different media as a design tool covering tapestry, prints, stained glass, sculpture and manuscripts. This was also a useful way of introducing these different media in the period. Finally she looked at the later years when ideas from Italy started to creep into the work from classical ideas to Italian landscapes done by artists on their travels. I had seen the show shortl...

Interesting online course from the London Art History Society looking at how the artists of Naples developed a Baroque style in the 17th century. Giulia Martina Weston, an associate lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art, led us through the topic with six well planned lectures. Day one focused on the effect of Caravaggio having worked in the city and how artists either adopted or rejected this style. We then looked at Luca Giordano and his work in the city as well as in Florence, Rome and Venice. Day two concentrated on architecture in particular the work on Cosimo Fanzago. The first lecture focused on the Certosa de San Martino talking us through its design and decoration in detail. The second lecture then broadened out to look at his work for the religious orders and his secular commissions. The final day looked at Mattia Preti and Salvator Rosa, artists from Naples who worked further afield. We ended by looking at the art market examining how much different artists were p...

Fun exhibition in the Archive Gallery at Glyndebourne Opera House looking at how the costume department made Louise Alder's impressive dress for the Last Night of the Proms in 2025. The room was dominated by the dress itself. I remembered it from the concert and it was very impressive. I hadn't realised the back was red with a red and blue bow. I remember at the time hearing that the costume department had made it for her as she had been starring in one of their productions that year. It was shown with pictures of other dresses made in response to the Union Jack and photographs explaining the process of designing and making it. There was also bunting made from odd cuts decorated by members of the team who had made it. Closes 30 August 2026

Interesting exhibition at Glyndebourne Opera House of work by contemporary artist Sara Berman responding to their new production of "Billy Budd". Berman is a former fashion designer, now painter, who was given access to the costume department over the past year, and it draws from the costumes and elements of the set. The show consists of large-scale paintings and smaller drawings both of her in some of the costumes and others of tangled rope. Evidently the latter explore themes of vulnerability in the opera. The work also included some text based pieces Berman made when she was housebound   following major surgery in the Autumn where she used a child’s printing set to stamp build abstract works made up of words from the libretto. I loved the images which looked good in the space. I have yet to see the opera so may reassess the work after I've seen it but for now it served as a good trailer for it and I am looking forward to seeing it in a few weeks. Closes 30 Aug...

Touching exhibition in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne Opera House of a selection of costumes worn by Dame Felicity Lott. I say touching as since the display was planned Dame Felicity Lott has died. The display was organised with her to mark the auction of a number of her outfits in aid of   Friends of Sussex Hospices in October. As she was involved in the show the descriptions of the outfits had been written by her. There were five outfits displayed in the fireplace including a kaftan made by Glyndebourne’s costume department, worn at the BBC Proms, and a military jacket designed by Laurent Pelly, director of this season’s Ariadne auf Naxos. This was a lovely unintentional homage to the singer who had often sung at the opera house and who lived nearby. Closes 30 August 2026

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at their Stubbs exhibition as it came to an end. Aliki Braine discussed the place of Stubbs in the National Gallery with the iconic “Whistlejacket” bookending one end of the longest vista in the gallery. She described him as “A place finder for visitors”. I hadn’t realised that he’d only been acquired by them in 1997. She discussed whether we can consider “Scrub”, the focus of the show, can be considered to be a portrait of a horse, looking at what she felt constitutes a portrait and concluding that it can be. She also looked at the two other projects represented in the show, Stubbs book on the anatomy of the horse and a series of portraits of all the thoroughbred horses over 50 years, a project which failed. This was an interesting lecture but very similar to others I had done on the show. I’d like to see these talks at the end of shows having more of a sense of reflecting on what had been learnt from seeing the wor...